The Crayon Plan

Hello, Mr. Hispanic person? I’d like to discuss why my party needs your support in order to win elections.

Hispanics don't really like us. We should try to make them like us better. We've taken to calling it the Crayon Plan, because while it looks colorful, ultimately Republicans aren't going to take it seriously.

If Hispanic Americans hear that the GOP doesnВ’t want them in the United States, they wonВ’t pay attention to our next sentence. It doesnВ’t matter what we say about education, jobs or the economy; if Hispanics think that we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies. In essence, Hispanic voters tell us our PartyВ’s position on immigration has become a litmus test, measuring whether we are meeting them with a welcome mat or a closed door.

Sounds nice, don't it? Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus was so excited about it that he announced a big $10 million door-to-door "outreach" program. Now, if they could just figure out what they are actually going to say to Hispanic voters.

Today, Allison Sherry of the Denver Post shows us how implementing this Crayon Plan is going to be a lot harder than scribbling it together in the first place:

To understand the difficulty in passing comprehensive immigration reform on Capitol Hill, just ask Colorado's four House Republicans how they would tackle the problem.

Each has a different solution…

…Colorado Republicans all said they believed in strengthening the border and as well as instituting some sort of guest-worker program, but the four were split on what to do with the existing illegal immigrants living in the United States, including those brought to the U.S. as children.

To be sure, Republicans need to do a better job in reaching out to Hispanic voters if they ever hope to start winning again. But there's still that one little asterisk in the plan that cannot be erased: The Tea Party. Even if Republican elected officials agree that they need a more moderate immigration reform plan, many are still too afraid of gaining a primary challenge from the far-right. It's an issue they need to address in order to win a General Election, but the slightest misstep will cost them in a Primary.

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It's not just the GOP's proposed immigration policy, though that is certainly part of the problem. If the GOP ever hopes to be competitive with Hispanics, they are going to have to put on a muzzle on all the people who talk about immigrants as being less than human.

I have no intention of helping the GOP find their way on immmigration. There is a newspaper in Denver with an article up about the differing opinion of our GOP delegation. They all want to focus on the border. Coffman wants to let them be in the military and be our next gen cannon fodder. Lamebrain, Tiptoe and Gardner all want them only to do stoop labor.

The issue is more than skin deep. It goes to the "English Only" laws that the teabaggers enjoy putting into local ordinance. There are occasional "look at this" articles about names; a current version of that is Tank's name.

The Republican party has focused on being the refuge of the racist and xenophobe, it will enjoy the fruits of that effort for a long time. The top level 'pubs can spray BS as much as they want, the members will be the same.